You could charge $1 or $2 per person for the lights every week, like a course fund.

Of course, I wouldn't expect not to. 6 people for 6 weeks at a $1 each is $36 is more than enough to cover the cost of the lights (and a couple of replacements) just in case or one glow sticks for each hole (and a couple of replacements) for the duration. I still like the reusable aspect of the garden lights. It's more green.

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Solar lights work OK. They have them on the Highlands course at Horning's Hideout. The ones in the open tend to work OK, but the ones in the trees don't get enough direct sunlight during the day to get a good charge. Keep that in mind if your course has any wooded holes.

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Speaking of the green aspect, while the 3v batteries aren't super cheap, they last an awful long time. After I'm done I take off the LED and wrap the batteries in electrical tape, leaving a layer of tape in between each one, to keep them together so I don't lose them.

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Speaking of the green aspect, while the 3v batteries aren't super cheap, they last an awful long time. After I'm done I take off the LED and wrap the batteries in electrical tape, leaving a layer of tape in between each one, to keep them together so I don't lose them.

I found a cheap way to make the led's and to get the batteries is to hit up a radioshack like store. To help the cost of the batteries you can do some google research but one of the batteries designed for cameras (old film type) are nothing more than 4-5 wrapped 3v ones in a series. I was big into Radio Controlled stuff for awhile and did a few bodies with working lights etc.
I was thinking of using solar lights that would be put out on the course the night of the event and taken down at the end of the night, allowing one to leave them in direct sunlight to charge during the day.

In regards to Pendleton, I would only light up the bottom 9 and not use the holes on the hill.

Let me know, Uhlman, if a routine night league starts and if I can swing it between PTA and Preschool meetings etc I will make the drive.

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Solar lights work OK. They have them on the Highlands course at Horning's Hideout. The ones in the open tend to work OK, but the ones in the trees don't get enough direct sunlight during the day to get a good charge. Keep that in mind if your course has any wooded holes.

I think the best way to charge these would be to do in in a secure open space and then put them up before the round if you had wooded holes (wahtever thoes are?); and unless you had a very secure way of attaching them to the baskets I think they would "walk" away.

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The Disc Golf Beacon is a night fishing light (for bobbers) repurposed for disc golf. It's waterproof (got my 1 of 6 in the world champ Max out of the lake at Trojan during a night golf round there). They weigh nothing and with clear duct tape across the bottom, on the nipple, don't have much effect on flight. The secret to the duct tape is to use a lighter to heat (but not burn) the tape which melts the adhesive and then press it tight against the disc- WILL NOT COME OFF!!!

Radio Shack has single LEDs for sale 2-3 bucks each. Get some help from the staff to make sure you get the brightest red you can find. Red LEDs have the greatest tolerance to power variations so they will stay brighter longer as the battery runs down. There will be a required voltage on the LED pack so just match it up with the correct battery and tape one lead to each side of the battery for a great little light. As long as you are careful when taping/untaping the light from the battery and store the pair in a way the LED will not make contact with the battery, these last a long time.

Lighting the baskets: the solar LED lights are great especially now you can get cheap yard lights at Home Depot, Lowes, et. al., and mod them for the baskets. Another option is hunting around for electroluminecent dog collars/markers on sale. These are fabric strips that are essentially flexible LEDs. Replaceable batteries and portability are worth the extra money. Next Adventure has some on sale right now. The only drawback of the solar units is that the solar panels used in the solar LED lights degrade over time (ironically due to exposure to the sun) and require replacement of the entire unit.

I would love to use a low voltage system for lights if I could figure out how to run the wire for cheap.

Cheers,
Bro

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

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The reason LED flashlights get so problematic is it is hard to make switches that don't get intermittent at such low current. This is the issue with low voltage lighting. Also, in DC circuits, voltage losses over distance are a real bite. The lower the voltage, the bigger your wire should be and the better your connections. Use solder, not crimp-ons or wire nuts. Use up what you save in watts in quality switches and fat wires.

The Corporate Empire is NOT a Constitutional Republic...
...but it plays one on TV.

For a permanent installation it could be easy to attach the wire to the basket attaching the battery pack for night play.

Looking at the site there is a section with rope LED lighting that is solar charged. Fun fun.

"Love is not primarily a relationship to a specific person. Love is an attitude, an ordination of character which determines the relatedness of the person to the whole world as a whole, not toward one object of love.”

Clear duct tape, clear packaging tape works okay, but harder to remove, use 2 strips in an "x" pattern to secure the mini glow stick / led light on the bottom and in the middle of your disc. Seems when they're placed on top they're more likely to come off when they hit something. Darker discs I'll use light up the top and bottom of the disc.

I bring 4 or 5 discs along.

Depending on how long we're going to play, we'll use 6" glow sticks to light all of the baskets or a mini led flashlight.
If we're playing a day round, then a night round, I will hang a 6" glow stick in the baskets as we're playing, so the next time around the baskets will all be lit up. If we're just playing glow for the night and we're not out there earlier, I have a few mini led flashlights that I taped some wire onto to form a hook, so when we get close to the basket, whoever's closet can light it up.

On real dark nights its nice to have a glow stick lit on the the side of your bag, it can easily get lost if you're taking time to look for a lost disc, then forget where you set your bag down!

When you play though, bring along extra glow sticks / lights and tape, once in awhile you'll hit a tree and they might begin to fall off or will completely come off.

They make the lights where you can punch a hole in the middle of a disc and push a light into the hole, but I've tried these, they turn your disc into garbage, they totally lose their natural flight pattern and its very frustrating!

If you have glow discs, finding an inexpensive 6" portable blacklight to wand over it before you throw works so much better than a camera flash.

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if you want batteries the best place to go and get them is dollar tree 3 for a buck and you can get a pack off led for 2.99 at the shack

Ding ding ding. If you don't want to order online and wait for delivery, Radio Shack 20 pack misc LEDs ($3) + Dollar store batteries = affordable lights in a hurry. Almost didn't see the 20 packs at my store among the 3 trays of LEDs, glad I did.

About half of the 20 LEDs in the pkg I bought at Radio Shack will do the trick, some of them were not ideal for various reasons. Nonetheless, a way better deal than the other various single or double packs, all costing at least a buck and a half for one unit. And at the dollar store around the corner there were plenty of 3v watch-type batteries to be had for pennies on the dollar compared to RS prices. (I wouldn't put one in my watch or camera, but they should do fine for night golf...)

As much as I like "pure" night golf using only glow discs, I find the LEDs to be a great way to extend the playing hours. No more waiting through twilight for it to get dark enough to see the glow discs. And frankly, they're easier to find in most cases.

Joe

Joe Wander
Producer and Editor
Disc Golf Live video magazinewww.discgolflive.com
Bringing DG to TV, one community at a time

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Made my led lights last night. Worked perfect. I picked up the led asortment at the shack and I aleady had the batteries. I found that the red leds worked the best and that they were the best for any of my champ discs. Even the mildly darker colors and semi-opaque elite-z plastic as well. I just soldered 2 leds facing away from each other and taped the batt inbetween the middle-like a sandwich. Then taped to the disc. I used clear packing tape I had from when I moved. Lasted all night!! Quick easy and simple. Thanks for the idea!!